LEARNING AT THE MUSEUM

East Grinstead Museum covers the story of the town from prehistory to the present day and serves as a great local history case study for use in both primary and secondary schools, as well as other educational settings. The Museum also has a display dedicated to the story of the Guinea Pig Club and their surgeon Archibald McIndoe which is a story of international significance for its place in the history of medicine and the part East Grinstead played in the Second World War.

Our exciting exhibition space is supported by a fully equipped research room, with archives for public use concerning the history and heritage of the town.

Self-guided visits are welcome (please contact info@eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk) to book, but please note we do not offer tours or activities to schools due to limited resources.

We do, however, offer a range of Session Plans which can be used alongside or in place of a visit to the Museum. These sessions have been specifically designed to meet the needs of the National Curriculum and cross-curricular creative learning across history, art, english and science and can be downloaded using the links below.

We also have a number of resources available for you to use at home, in your classroom, or with your community group. You can find these at the bottom of the Learning For Schools and Learning for Adults pages.

Age 6-8

Drama session: This activity focuses on the ability to empathise and explores the reaction of the local people to the burns patients at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead.

Faces Activity: In this activity participants will explore what makes people unique and how everyone looks different while putting it in context with the story of the injured airmen during World War Two.

Feely bags Activity : This builds on empathy while encouraging participants to think about what it would be like to lose your vision.

Hands Activity : Similar to the feely bags activity above, this activity builds empathy but instead of sight, focuses on touch/dexterity. This relates to the injuries suffered by WW2 pilots which were often worse on the hands.

Age 7-11

Drama session: This session explores the idea of East Grinstead as the Town that Didn't Stare through drama.

Molly's Medical Drawings: This activity combines art and history by focusing on the story of Molly Lentaigne, a voluntary nurse who recorded McIndoe's work in the Operating Theatre.

Rebuilding Faces Session: In this workshop, participants will create a caricature of themselves and reflect on what makes them unique.

Age 12-16

The Good, the bad and the Ugly: This creative activity will encourage students to explore different ways of creating images with pencil, charcoal and collage.

Resources

The Town That Didn't Stare Presentation. This presentation covers the story of the aircrew, their injuries and their journey to recovery under the care of McIndoe and his team. This is most suitable for Key Stage 1-2. Available to download here, with the script/more information here.

McIndoe The Maestro Presentation. This presentation also covers the story of McIndoe and the Guinea Pig Club but is tailored towards Key Stage 3-4. Available to download here.

McIndoe and the Guinea Pigs Quiz. This quiz covers some of the key aspects of the McIndoe story. Available to download here, with the answers here.

True or False. This activity is designed to get people thinking about the topic in a different way. The quiz can be found here and the answers here.

Wordsearch. We have put together four options to keep your groups occupied. Available in Easy, Medium, Hard and Very Hard.